- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd (25 Feb 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 071563710X
- ISBN-13: 978-0715637104
- Product Dimensions: 20.2 x 15.2 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 177,021 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
'This book is a complete joy. It made me smile. A lot.' -- Carol Vorderman. 'There's more to maths than just numbers - but, as this entertaining and engaging book amply demonstrates, the depth and variety of mathematical ideas that appear when you start with 1, 2, 3 and keep going is astonishing. Once you start reading 'Number Freak' it's just like the number system itself - impossible to stop' --Ian Stewart, author of 'Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities'
'A great maths book for geeks and non-geeks alike' -- Johnny Ball. 'A fascinating parade of diverse numerical characters... An entertaining mix of numerical fun and theory' --Booklist
'A fun book... definitely challenging' -- Vanity Fair. 'All sorts of fascinating mathematical minutiae' --Time Out, Chicago
'A great maths book for geeks and non-geeks alike' -- Johnny Ball. 'A fascinating parade of diverse numerical characters... An entertaining mix of numerical fun and theory' --Booklist
'A fun book... definitely challenging' -- Vanity Fair. 'All sorts of fascinating mathematical minutiae' --Time Out, Chicago
Review
'This book is a complete joy. It made me smile. A lot.' - Carol Vorderman. 'There's more to maths than just numbers - but, as this entertaining and engaging book amply demonstrates, the depth and variety of mathematical ideas that appear when you start with 1, 2, 3 and keep going is astonishing. Once you start reading "Number Freak" it's just like the number system itself - impossible to stop' - Ian Stewart, author of "Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities". 'A great maths book for geeks and non-geeks alike' - Johnny Ball. 'A fascinating parade of diverse numerical characters... An entertaining mix of numerical fun and theory' - Booklist. 'A fun book... definitely challenging' - Vanity Fair. 'All sorts of fascinating mathematical minutiae' - Time Out, Chicago.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
A fascinating compilation but I am afraid it was well beyond me! My son, who is an accountant, both understood and enjoyed it but I did not get beyond 20!
Format:Hardcover
This book takes every number from 1 to 200 and tells you something about it. In most cases, something interesting, but there are a few barrel-scraping moments. 138 only manages "We Are 138", the name of a song by "punk band the Misfits". 137 does little better - 'Physicist Wolfgang Pauli is said to have died in hospital room 137, this after spending a lifetime trying to demonstrate that 137 is the "fine-structure constant". ' What the fine-structure constant might be is left for you to find out.
Unsurprisingly, the first "half" of the book is much longer than the second - 1-100 takes 228 pages, 101-200 takes 56. There is much thought-provoking stuff, such as 24 being the number of different square jigsaw pieces with each side having a male or female connector or no connector, and these pieces (assuming the same size and position for each connector) being usable to make a 4x6 rectangle. But the same section has puzzling sentences like "The bi-sex are seven (one side)." - which I just can't understand, and "Of all, these 24 pieces ..." when he means something like "Luckiest of all, these 24 pieces ...".
There's a reasonable range of mathematical and cultural references, but maths mostly wins. If you don't like maths it's not the book for you, but if you can cope with the odd formula or bit of mathematical thinking, it's a bit like a mathematical version of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
Biggest fault: no index - so no way of finding all the bits about pentominoes, for example.
The cultural stuff is a bit US-based (Niederman is American), so 101 has mention of dalmatians but not rats, but British stuff like cricket and snooker is in there from time to time.
Unsurprisingly, the first "half" of the book is much longer than the second - 1-100 takes 228 pages, 101-200 takes 56. There is much thought-provoking stuff, such as 24 being the number of different square jigsaw pieces with each side having a male or female connector or no connector, and these pieces (assuming the same size and position for each connector) being usable to make a 4x6 rectangle. But the same section has puzzling sentences like "The bi-sex are seven (one side)." - which I just can't understand, and "Of all, these 24 pieces ..." when he means something like "Luckiest of all, these 24 pieces ...".
There's a reasonable range of mathematical and cultural references, but maths mostly wins. If you don't like maths it's not the book for you, but if you can cope with the odd formula or bit of mathematical thinking, it's a bit like a mathematical version of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
Biggest fault: no index - so no way of finding all the bits about pentominoes, for example.
The cultural stuff is a bit US-based (Niederman is American), so 101 has mention of dalmatians but not rats, but British stuff like cricket and snooker is in there from time to time.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
A nice introduction to the love of numbers
31 Jan 2010
Format:Paperback
In "Number Freak", Derrick Niederman sets out to write something interesting about each number from 1 to 200. The results are from a mix of disciplines, including:
- Math: "28 is the second perfect number. It equals the sum of its proper factors (1+2+4+7+14=28)"
- Literature: "...Catch-22 may be the most recognizable use of the number 22 in modern culture."
- Religion: "...40 days of Lent to the traditional 40 days of mourning in the Muslim faith."
- Language: "...the most complex Chinese character still in use....involves 57 separate pen strokes...."
and lots of trivia (39 is the highest number on a standard Master combination lock, The Roman Catholic Church has 194 dioceses within the United States, Studio 54 was located at 254 West 54th Street, etc.)
As a trained mathematician, it's no surprise that Niederman devotes the most space to math properties of many numbers. While the other information can be interesting, the math examples seem to be the most fascinating and unique. Indeed, from reading the introduction it seems that the author himself worries about juxtaposing important mathematics with "fun and silly stuff." As a lover of trivia myself, I always enjoy learning new random facts about everything, but I also found it a bit distracting from the interesting math history and unique properties of various numbers.
Readers who are interested in a book that focuses more on math should definitely seek out The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Numbers: Revised Edition (Penguin Press Science) by David Wells. This book looks at numbers from -1 to a very, very large number (called Graham's Number), and stays within the world of math facts.
Finally, there were a few things that I would have liked to have seen in this book. First, the introduction mentions a glossary, but I couldn't find any. Second, some in-text references would have been helpful for the reader who is interested in learning more about certain math properties. Finally, an index would have been useful. Also, the book has a number of puzzles scattered throughout that are answered in the back. However, I found these to be a distraction and didn't really fit in with the rest of the book.
Niederman's book is definitely one to be enjoyed in small doses, and in that aspect it succeeds well. In addition, if by bridging math and popular culture it can bring a new audience to the love of numbers, then it will clearly be a success.
- Math: "28 is the second perfect number. It equals the sum of its proper factors (1+2+4+7+14=28)"
- Literature: "...Catch-22 may be the most recognizable use of the number 22 in modern culture."
- Religion: "...40 days of Lent to the traditional 40 days of mourning in the Muslim faith."
- Language: "...the most complex Chinese character still in use....involves 57 separate pen strokes...."
and lots of trivia (39 is the highest number on a standard Master combination lock, The Roman Catholic Church has 194 dioceses within the United States, Studio 54 was located at 254 West 54th Street, etc.)
As a trained mathematician, it's no surprise that Niederman devotes the most space to math properties of many numbers. While the other information can be interesting, the math examples seem to be the most fascinating and unique. Indeed, from reading the introduction it seems that the author himself worries about juxtaposing important mathematics with "fun and silly stuff." As a lover of trivia myself, I always enjoy learning new random facts about everything, but I also found it a bit distracting from the interesting math history and unique properties of various numbers.
Readers who are interested in a book that focuses more on math should definitely seek out The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Numbers: Revised Edition (Penguin Press Science) by David Wells. This book looks at numbers from -1 to a very, very large number (called Graham's Number), and stays within the world of math facts.
Finally, there were a few things that I would have liked to have seen in this book. First, the introduction mentions a glossary, but I couldn't find any. Second, some in-text references would have been helpful for the reader who is interested in learning more about certain math properties. Finally, an index would have been useful. Also, the book has a number of puzzles scattered throughout that are answered in the back. However, I found these to be a distraction and didn't really fit in with the rest of the book.
Niederman's book is definitely one to be enjoyed in small doses, and in that aspect it succeeds well. In addition, if by bridging math and popular culture it can bring a new audience to the love of numbers, then it will clearly be a success.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Fun book, but....
10 Jan 2011
I enjoyed this book but have been frustrated by a fair number of typos - such as 1/2 + 1/5 + 1/5 + 1/12 = 1 and the magic hexagon that has 15 in it twice. Be careful before you scratch your head too long trying to understand something, it may be a typo!
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Whow!
25 Dec 2010
Amazon Verified Purchase
If you thought that Basic Math had no surprises for you, you should read this book from cover to cover
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